The Firearm release form.
It is an integral part of doing business. It is also an integral part of locating a gun from Point-Of-Sale origin. It must be filled out completely on release of a firearm. All areas that are applicable for the purchaser of a firearm, must be completed in full. All waiting periods must be adhered to if applicable. No exceptions are allowed to this procedure by those FFL "dealers" that sell guns to the public.
One would think so.
Understanding the flow of illegal guns, by creating what is called a *chain of accountability*, helps Law Enforcement create a system to enforce gun laws effectively. Some Progun advocates will continue to claim that the Microstamping law punishes the "law abiding" citizen, but what they refuse to tell you, is how it exactly punishes them. What it does in fact is keeps the "law abiding" gun owner, law abiding. It enforces Private Party Transfer record keeping, which any "law abiding" citizen who sells a gun privately should do, and should want to perform.
A keeper of their records, of guns that they've bought and sold to other "law abiding" citizens, is not too much to ask.
Unless of course they are not "law abiding".
Unless the key to their buying patterns can be put under the microscope of scrutiny.
And then there was Riverview Gun Sales.
I catch a lot of heat from Progun for my knowledge of their world. The world I was a big part of.
In Larry Elder's book,"The Ten Things You Can't Say In America"[1], he mentions the facility that I ran for 5 years. The book itself made the New York Times Best Seller List, and is not a bad read. I recommend it if you haven't had an opportunity to see how certain people's ideas may differ from your own set of values.
It irks them to no end that I have lived in this world, so disputing me, or the things I say, is imperative. Microstamping is science. Undisputed science that they cannot reject, yet they do, on the grounds that they've been able to keep important research on the subject silenced for years by an explosion of limited counter peer review by google bombing the internet.
You'll have to dig deep in the internet to find the research papers I've provided in "Microstamping, Newtown and Riverview Gun Sales: What should have taken place long before Sandy Hook: Part II" and "Microstamping, Newtown and Riverview Gun Sales: What should have taken place long before Sandy Hook: Part I"
Here are some of the objections, criticisms, and rebuttals by detractors:[2]
A) Law Enforcement doesn't support Microstamping.
B) Micrcostamping can easily be defeated by criminals with household tools (file, emery cloth)
C) Criminals will seed the crime scene with expended cartridges from firing ranges
D) Microstamping will lead to astronomical cost in each gun, up to $200 per pistol
E) Microstamped Cartridges cannot be recycled/reloaded based on Microstamp technology permanance
F) Microstamping patenting will lead to a government monopoly on ammunition and guns
G) Microstamping doesn't work because criminals don't purchase guns legally
H) Microstamping marks will be altered by gun residue from dirty weapons fired
I ) Microstamping has not been tested in the real world, therefore it cannot be accurate.
Wow, the last one is the most insane thing I've ever heard as an excuse for not rolling out technology that has been in trials since the 1990's.
And then there was Riverview Gun Sales.
Nancy Lanza bought her guns at Riverview Gun Sales.
People will tell you that because she passed a background investigation that buying guns legally, and then she was irresponsible in the storage of those guns. They will also state that Adam Lanza hand mental problems beyond help and this was the reason he committed a heinous act.
They never talk about the responsibility of Riverview Gun Sales, it's owner David LaGuercia, and sales person Krystopher Dibella when it came to how gun sales were treated in the East Windsor store. I call it a store and not a 'facility', because it had severe issues when dealing in the world of firearms. From known thefts, to bad paperwork reaching back to 2007, yet it was in operation in when it sold guns to Nancy Lanza and should have had it license pulled before she purchased them.
The 4473 for the Bushmaster XM-15 sold to Nancy Lanza had problems.[3]
a) Stock number on the Bushmaster AR-15 derivative was 13810
b) It looks as though it was pre-filled out on the day of purchase according to the paperwork
c) Release date has discrepancies and line through (this is a major no-no)
There also seems to be some discrepancy in the physical description of Nancy Lazna, which should be consistent based on the dates filled out by Krystopher Dibella and Eris Reis, based on the fact that is comes directly from a individual's legal form of identification. This falls under the section called "Know Your Customer". By looking at the two separate 4473's and store Application's to Purchase Firearm records info (Bushmaster vs. Sig Sauer), we are not certain of Nancy Lanza's eye or hair color. It makes one wonder if the government (State) issued ID was ever looked at.
There are rules you follow when you make a mistake on a 4473.[4]
There are rules to filling one out that make errors and omissions unacceptable.[5]
And then there was Riverview Gun Sales.
Then there is the case of Jordan Marsh, and Riverview Gun Sales.
Over a period of a year, Jordan Marsh stole at least one AR-15's from Riverview Gun Sales, by just walking in, supposedly and walking out with them. He stole eleven guns total, according to the authorities. Again, Riverview Gun Sales had inventory and paperwork problems that reached back to 2007.[6] Security issues and paperwork problems at the Riverview Gun Store were a considered "willful violations" by the BATF, which totaled in the area of 500 record keeping and sales violations.[7]
How many guns walked out of the door at Riverview Gun Store is unknown for certain.[8]
And here, I argue daily with Progun trolls over whether or not Microstamping is a necessary tool in tracking weapons from their Point-Of-Origin sale. When a dealer cannot keep track of the weapons received and sold (acquisition and disposition),--when their security systems does not work, or dealers fail to report stolen weapons to the BATF and local authorities, systems like Microstamping plays a vital and necessary role in shining the light on internal and external problems within the gun industry trade.
Then there was the Senior Employee at Riverview Gun Sales, Krystopher Dibella.
With numerous violations, his errors consistently revolved around the 4473.[9]
If it isn't apparent to Gunsense people by now, why they should focus on legislation that promotes gun safety and regulation, by promoting Microstamping as a back up to shoddy, unreliable, paperwork, then the point of order is turned over and placed in the hand of so-called "law abiding" citizen,-- who by their own admission, break the rules when no one is looking.
In all "fairness", there are those who have been corrupted by a system which is not sustainable by those who claim to operate as legitimate gun dealers, yet cannot be trusted with the keys to "insure domestic Tranquility" within American society in any form or fashion. They have proven over and over, time and time again, that they represent a clear and present danger to both Liberty and Freedom in America, as well as personal safety.
No one ever asked Krystoper Dibella what is was like to sell Nancy Lanza the weapon that slew the children and adults of Sandy Hook Elementary School. Dibella was sentenced to three years probation and a $250 fine for repeated violations of Federal Gun Laws, and from there went into deep silence. There are two things that we do know for certain about Krystopher Dibella though.
1) His viewpoints on the requirements of filling out a 4473 with accuracy and due diliegence
2) His viewpoint on Microstamping and his opposition to it's implementation of it as a law.
Yes, Krystopher Dibella spoke about "firearms", "due diligence", ...and "the utmost care", yet he never practiced it. He was an admitted "Certified NRA"--"Instructor". He says he was responsible for teaching people safety.
Dibella's "discovery" of *S.B. 353, the Connecticut legislation, AN ACT CONCERNING THE MICROSTAMPING OF SEMIAUTOMATIC PISTOLS. To facilitate the linking of used cartridge cases to the firearm that fired them by requiring the microstamping of semiautomatic pistols*, made him supposedly ponder the negative implications of such a law. He felt it would effect "legal" firearm owners and the Connecticut economy. He played it up big. More than likely, he talked about it at work and with people he gave pistol instruction to.
S.B 353 was something that angered him and he showed disdain for.
On many occasions, while managing the "largest firearms" dealership in the West, I had to let go, or fire employees for showing their disdain for firearm laws. It was difficult, because their lack of understanding that it was a business first, and a love second, limited their reality to what they thought was right, and what the laws actually impose. There are reality checks in every line of business if you want to stay in business.
Dibella made sure when he talked about striking down S.B. 353, that he played up how much it would hurt an already struggling "U.S. economy". After all, it was 2009, and the average citizen in America could not bear more economic hardship. He was 21 and full of tenacity. He would drone on about the "core problem related to gun violence". Although, like most Progun people, he never mentioned what the core problem actually was, or what it was caused by. His conversation would fluctuate between the devastation of Connecticut's economy and how passing such legislation would be devastating to the community that he lived in as it stood.
Little was he aware of what real devastation could be brought to the community where he lived if S.B. 353 wasn't passed.
Dibella thought Microstamping was a "bad idea". He knew the bill would assist Law Enforcement in "apprehending perpetrators" that commit serous crimes, but that was of no concern to him. Converserly, he felt S.B 353 was nothing more than a "nuisance law" that over burdens Law Enforcement. He spoke like all the rest of Progun advocates on the issue on the 'why we shouldn't', instead of on the 'why we should' introduce Microstamping as a valid asset to solving gun crimes in America. He wanted Law Enforcement to focus their energies on illegal firearm smugglers, traders, and consumers AKA "straw purchasers".
He never thought of his inconsistent paperwork when it came to gun sales as being "illegal".
His dialogue about S.B. 353 focused more or less (more, actually) on the "economy", and showed a tact much like FOX network repeating the economy, like repeating the word terrorism over and over again, until it drones in your ears and numbs your brain. He was 21. What did he really know about the economy or economic cycles? Yet, he was a consummate salesman. A closer, who self admittedly knew his target market, and the fears they faced, which most-- if not all, were nothing more than an illusion fostered by an over active imaginations, fueled by his manipulation and the power it brought him.
He was 21, and his letter to the Judiciary Committee for the State of Connecticut, spoke his words before the Connecticut General Assembly on the issue of S.B. 353 and Microstamping. He was heavily influenced by his peers.[10] Click on his name and read his comments for yourself.
And, no doubt, people will ask me, "How would the implementation of S.B. 353 have stopped this crime, the Massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School from taking place?".
Something tells me it would have.
Something says, that based on the eventual closure of Riverview Gun Sales, for excessive record keeping violations that took place between 2007 and that fateful day in 2012,--that had S.B. 353 been enacted,--the incident at Sandy Hook might never have happened. Guns that were stolen, could have traced, if they had been used in commission of a crime, based on Microstamping technology. A pattern of negligence would have appeared that could not have been ignored, leading right back to the Dealer Record of Sale or Receipt. Acquisition and Disposition could never be questioned. The incident at Hartford Distributors Inc. may have not happened at all. Numerous violations acquired by Riverview Gun Sales happened before the fact of both of these incidents, and its subsequent closure for the same outrageous number of gun record violations were after the fact and loss of lives.
Many of these violations were in fact instigated by Krystopher Lawrence Dibella. A Senior Employee of Riverview Gun Sales, who had little or no respect for the documentation required to release a firearm into the public domain. It seems that Dibella, in general, had little or no respect for most laws pertaining anything that had to do with guns or selling ammunition to known felons, against his better judgement. He was a Certified NRA Pistol Instructor. He was, after all, a salesman first, a Progun advocate second, and last but not least of all, a concerned citizen of the Connecticut community. He jeopardized the lives of those who lived in Connecticut, and also the business that he worked in. The owner of Rivereview Gun Sales, David LaGuercia, should have paid better attention to how he ran his business and trained his employees.
The Facebook Page for Riverview Gun Sales is still active[11], even though Moms Demand Action stated emphatically, ... that Facebook policy is "lax"[12]
Some of us can read, and we know what adverting is, and what gun sales looks like--Facebook!
And to leave this page active, is tragic for many reasons that I don't even need to go into.
I need a moment, because--if you are seeing what I've seen through this three part journey,-- about Microstamping and its advantages, it must be as hard for you as it is for me. When you see the problem right before you, and you get up everyday to fight the indecency that permeates your very soul, it can be draining.
How could this Facebook page still be up?
You begin to wonder if anyone is listening at all.
And then,-- you get up the next day, and do it all over again, because it needs to be done.
Do yourself a favor.
Read Part I, Part II and Part III again, and every research paper, article, and link supplied.
Have a full understanding of Microstamping and Microstamping Law.
Send people you know to my blog to read about it.
Discuss it among people who want to see lower gun crime and less gun deaths.
Let them make their own informed decision on the subject matter and how it will reduce crime.
Drive-by shootings don't leave crime guns at the scene.
Think about it.
TRACE THE GUN: Semantic Community, MAIG information
[1] Ten Things You Can't Say In America, by Larry Elder, revised edition, pg 295, 2000, St. Martins Press.
[2] Microstamping Technology: Precise and Proven, Coalition To Stop Gun Violence & Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence
[3] 4473-Nancy Lanza Gun Purchase Records.pdf
[4] Shot Business, Help With The 4473, Volume 22, Number 1, 2014
[5] ATF Form-4473 Who Handles Your Paper Work, ATF Feature Story, 2010
[6] ATF Raid Gun Store After Owner Doesn't Notice Man Stealing AR-15, Crooks and Liars, 12-21-2012
[7] ATF: Store That Sold Guns To Newtown Mom Had Violations, USA Today, 4-11-2013
[8] Police: South Windsor Man Stole Weapons Because He Was Being Teased At Work, South Windsor Patch, 12-2-2012
[9] Employee Of East Windsor Gun Store Sentenced: The United States Attorney's Office, District of Connecticut, 9-30-2013
[10] An Act Concerning Microstamping Semiautomatic Pistols, S.B. 353, Judiciary Committee Letters
[11] Facebook page for Riverview Gun Sales.
[12] "Mom's give Facebook's gun policy a 'thumbs down": MSNBC, Michele Richinick, original 2-8-2014 updated 2-10-2014
I applaud your work. I can't wait to read it all.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
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